'Outside Woman Blues' and the Mystery of Blind Joe Reynolds

Half way through side 2 of Cream's 1967 album 'Disraeli Gears' is a track called 'Outside Woman Blues' which is credited to a certain Arthur Reynolds. Although Cream were rooted in blues music, this album saw them moving into a more psychedelic phase, yet 'Outside Woman Blues' is one of the few songs on the album which does hark back to their blues origins. But who on earth is or was Arthur Reynolds?

Collectors of pre-war blues music will of course be familiar with the song by a certain Blind Joe Reynolds. It was recorded in November 1929 in Grafton, Wisconsin, the home of Paramount Records and it was released coupled with 'Nehi Blues' on that label (Paramount 12927). 

Two further tracks were also recorded by Reynolds at that session - 'Ninety Nine Blues' and 'Cold Woman Blues' and they were subsequently released on the same label (Paramount 12983).

Why Cream should choose to credit him as Arthur Reynolds remains a puzzle but then so much surrounding this character is shrouded in mystery. For example, research in the late 1960's by blues historian and writer Gayle Dean Wardlow revealed that his name was not Reynolds at all but that he may have been born Joe Sheppard in 1900 or 1904. Even this 'fact' is disputed however by his nephew Henry Millage, who claimed that he was born Joe Leonard but changed his name to Sheppard when he got into trouble with the law. This seems to have been a regular occurrence in the tumultuous life of the man who eventually became known on record as Blind Joe Reynolds.

He was raised in Tallulah which lies about 20 miles west of the Mississippi River near Vicksburg and began strumming guitar and hanging around with a few older players when still in his early teens. He was rarely out of trouble though and in the early 1920's he spent time in the Arkansas State Penitentiary. It was also during this period that he was blinded by a shotgun blast in Louisiana. In 1929 his guitar playing was heard in a lumber camp near Lake Providence by talent scout and music store owner, H. C. Speir. It was Speir who encouraged Reynolds to travel to Grafton to cut the four sides referred to above though Speir later confessed that he had already heard of Reynolds through other musicians (either Bo Carter or Charley Patton).

The following year, in November 1930, Reynolds recorded a further four songs in Memphis. 'Third Street Woman Blues' and 'Married Man Blues' were released on a 78 rpm record on the Victor label under the name Blind Willie Reynolds. Sadly the other two songs recorded that day, 'Short Dress' and 'Goose Hill Woman Blues', were never released and would appear to have been permanently lost. Fortunately all six of the released songs by Reynolds have survived although only three copies of 'Nehi Blues' / 'Outside Woman Blues' and only one of 'Ninety-Nine Blues' / 'Cold Woman Blues' have been discovered. Thanks to the generosity of their owners, all surviving tracks are currently available for our enjoyment on various blues compilations.

Although he never recorded again, Reynolds continued playing and singing and in the 1950's switched to an electric guitar. He died of pneumonia on 10 March 1968, only 10 months after Cream recorded their own version of his signature tune, 'Outside Woman Blues'.

Here is a link to Reynolds' version of that song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEI4MYoTBMM